on these rare occasions where there is
00:25
an abrupt radical a recognition of our
00:29
essential nature the reason in fact the
00:33
only reason why it is difficult to
00:35
integrate this recognition in our
00:38
everyday experience is for lack of
00:42
proper guidance there is absolutely
00:50
nothing that is incompatible about the
00:56
recognition of our essential being and
01:00
leading a fully functional relational
01:04
life if it seems that there is an
01:10
incompatibility between these two the
01:14
recognition of our essential nature and
01:17
leading a fully integrated life it is
01:20
simply because we have not yet explored
01:25
or had the help in exploring how these
01:28
two fit together
01:33
the recognition of our true nature is so
01:36
often described in the literature as
01:40
some marvelous exotic extraordinary
01:47
experience that happens to one in a
01:50
million enlightened people the the
01:53
recognition of our true nature is simply
01:56
the recognition of what we refer to when
02:03
we say I am
02:09
each of us all day long we are making
02:12
statements about ourselves
02:14
I am tired I am hungry I am lonely I am
02:19
married I am 34 years old I am sick etc
02:23
etc etc in each of these cases there is
02:27
a basic I am that is subsequently
02:33
qualified by various feelings activities
02:38
states relationships etc all that is
02:44
necessary is to see the nature of that
02:49
to which we refer when we say I am
02:53
before it has been qualified or
02:56
conditioned by experience there is
03:00
nothing extraordinary or exotic about
03:04
that recognition in fact even the taste
03:10
of tea is exotic compared to the knowing
03:15
of our own being the knowing of our own
03:18
being is the simplest the most obvious
03:21
the most intimate experience there is
03:25
and no one has privileged access to it
03:44
the reason why some people seem to see
03:48
or know more clearly than others their
03:51
true nature is that they have not
03:53
allowed their essential being to be
03:57
colored and therefore obscured by
04:01
experience in other words when most
04:06
people feel I am depressed the iron part
04:12
of the experience is obscured by the
04:16
depression the depression is what we
04:18
experience but some people even in the
04:23
midst of an intentionally unpleasant
04:25
experience such as depression they
04:27
emphasize the iron aspect of the
04:31
experience not the depressed aspect even
04:34
in a deep depression even in the
04:37
experience I am depressed to the I am
04:40
that I am
04:41
shines brightly it is not even necessary
04:46
to turn away from the depression to
04:48
exchange it for a more positive emotion
04:52
all that is necessary is just to discern
04:54
the ion that is shining that is present
05:00
and behind the experience but also
05:02
shining in the experience so the more
05:10
deeply we go into that experience when I
05:13
say the more deeply we go into it I
05:15
don’t mean to suggest that we are one
05:19
thing and the experience of our
05:22
essential being is another thing it’s
05:23
just a limitation of language the more
05:26
deeply our being remains with itself
05:31
stays in itself sinks into itself the
05:36
more clearly its qualities if we can
05:39
call them qualities they are any the
05:42
absence of qualities but the absence of
05:45
disturbance we call peace the absence of
05:48
the sense of lack we call happiness so
05:51
if I ascribe positive qualities to our
05:55
essential being
05:56
please understand that what I am really
05:59
describing is the absence of all the
06:02
qualities that we usually attach to
06:05
experience our essential being is free
06:08
of all disturbance and hence its nature
06:14
is peace it is free of the sense of lack
06:17
and hence its nature so that may not
06:20
seem to be a very direct answer to your
06:23
question but what I intend by this
06:28
answer is to make it very clear to you
06:32
that your recognition of your essential
06:36
nature is not an extraordinary
06:39
experience that happened 14 years ago it
06:43
is just a very simple intimate
06:46
ever-present
06:48
recognition of the essential uncoloured
06:51
being prior to its coloring or
06:57
conditioning by thought feeling activity
07:01
and relationship and the recognition of
07:05
that should not make your life any more
07:10
difficult to lead on the contrary it
07:14
should make your life easier your
07:16
activities are no longer filtered
07:24
through the neurotic fears and desires
07:28
of a temporary finite self your
07:31
relationships are no longer at the mercy
07:34
of a separate self who is always seeking
07:37
to fulfill itself through the
07:40
acquisition of an object and other state
07:44
of mind so this simple recognition
07:50
our essential beings recognition of
07:54
itself in us gradually clears up the way
08:00
we think and feel and subsequently the
08:03
way we act and relate if the recognition
08:11
of the self is is is not an experience
08:14
you you’re right the recognition of the
08:20
self its recognition of itself is not an
08:23
experience it is only possible to
08:26
experience something that is at an
08:28
apparent distance from ourselves for
08:37
instance it is only possible for the
08:39
eyes to see something that is at a
08:42
distance from them likewise it is only
08:46
possible to know something as as an
08:48
object that it is at a distance from the
08:52
Noah now there is no distance from
08:56
ourselves to ourselves and therefore our
09:01
self cannot know itself as an object of
09:04
experience you can know the sound of my
09:09
voice now or the sight of this room as
09:12
an object of experience because there
09:14
seems to be one thing called you the
09:17
knower and another thing called me the
09:21
speaker or the room but you the Noah can
09:28
never be an object of your own knowledge
09:31
because you are already too close to
09:34
yourself to be able to know yourself as
09:37
an object the Sun that illuminates is
09:44
the Sun that is illuminated there is no
09:49
distance from the Sun to the Sun and
09:53
therefore it cannot illuminate itself as
09:56
an object in the same way that it can
09:58
illuminate the moon likewise our self
10:02
cannot know itself as an object of
10:06
experience because it is too close to
10:08
itself to be able to separate itself
10:11
from itself and turn around and say ah
10:13
there is myself as an object in other
10:17
words the selfs knowledge of itself
10:23
consciousness is knowledge of itself is
10:26
the only knowledge there is it does not
10:29
take place in subject object
10:31
relationship and it is as such an
10:35
utterly unique knowledge that is
10:40
different from and prior to any other
10:43
knowledge or experience in fact it is
10:47
the only knowledge that is not relative
10:52
to the finite mind and it is thus called
10:56
absolute knowledge it is the only
10:58
absolute knowledge there is that is the
11:02
only knowledge there is that is not
11:03
relative to or dependent upon the finite
11:07
mind it is in a different category of
11:09
knowledge altogether and since that’s
11:11
called the absolute or the absolute
11:13
truth our knowledge of our self the
11:21
knowledge that shines in each of us as
11:23
the experience I am his consciousness is
11:26
knowledge of itself and I would suggest
11:29
in religious languages God’s knowledge
11:32
of himself in us in other words I would
11:36
suggest that the simple experience that
11:39
each of us has the knowledge I am before
11:43
the I am is colored or conditioned by
11:46
experience is God’s presence shining in
11:49
each of our hearts but that presence
11:55
cannot be known by anything other than
11:58
itself didn’t know just as the Sun
12:03
illuminates itself so the self knows
12:07
itself directly not through subject
12:12
object and relationship
12:14
as the 13th century Sufi mystic ballet
12:18
Ani said no one sees him except please
12:22
don’t object to the use of the pronoun
12:28
he that was just the literary convention
12:30
in 13th century Persian no one sees him
12:34
except himself no one reaches him except
12:39
himself
12:40
no one knows him except himself he knows
12:43
himself by himself he reaches himself
12:46
through himself alone only he knows him
13:10
on another occasion but Ayane again
13:13
describing this same the same
13:15
understanding that the self is known by
13:17
itself alone he said he sent himself
13:24
from himself through himself to himself
13:31
there is no intermediary or means other
13:35
than him there is no difference or
13:39
distance between the sender that which
13:43
is sent and the one to whom it is sent
13:56
so you are absolutely right our
13:59
essential being pure consciousness
14:02
cannot be known by the mind as an object
14:05
of experience but this does not mean
14:08
that it doesn’t know itself it knows
14:10
itself before it knows any other thing
14:14
and it’s knowledge of itself shines in
14:19
our experience as the simple knowledge I
14:21
am
14:30
[Music